Medication Compliance Alert Device

ABSTRACT

Example embodiments relate to medication compliance alert devices. An example embodiment includes a method. The method includes capturing information about a medication label associated with a medication. The method also includes analyzing, by a first computing device, the information about the medication label to extract medication information. Further, the method includes generating, by the first computing device, a medication schedule for a corresponding patient associated with the medication. The medication schedule includes a dosage strength and dosage frequency. In addition, the method includes prompting, by a second computing device, the corresponding patient to take an amount of the medication corresponding to the dosage strength at a predetermined time according to the medication schedule. Still further, the method includes receiving, by the second computing device, an indication that the corresponding patient has taken the amount of the medication corresponding to the dosage strength.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. application Ser. No.15/958,855, filed Apr. 20, 2018; which is a Continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/334,115, filed Oct. 25, 2016, that resulted inU.S. Pat. No. 9,949,895, issued on Apr. 24, 2018; which is aContinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/521,379, filed Oct. 22,2014, that resulted in U.S. Pat. No. 9,474,695, issued on Oct. 25, 2016;which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/894,737,filed Oct. 23, 2013; the contents of each of which are incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

Every day, significant numbers of patients fail to take their medicationas directed. Such non-compliance with prescription regimens can resultin reduced efficacy of treatments, increased hospitalizations, and evendeath. Various approaches for promoting compliance have been developed,yet these approaches can fail in several ways.

For example, day-of-the-week or other pillbox organizers frequentlyrequire a user to transfer pills from an original container from apharmacy into alternate containers that will be utilized to help theuser remember when to take the pills. This process may introduceopportunities for error. Additionally, the extra burden of this processmay become a potential promoter of non-compliance, especially forpatients that lack the discipline or mental faculties to consistentlycomplete the sorting and replenishing tasks.

With alarm or notification reminder systems, a patient who is not ableto hear or see the notification will simply not be reminded, resultingin inadvertent non-compliance. Furthermore, alarms such as onwristwatches or phone applications may be easily turned off withoutactually prompting the patient to take the medication.

SUMMARY

The specification and drawings disclose embodiments that relate tomedication compliance alert devices.

A device can include an alert mechanism and a detection mechanism. Thealert mechanism can activate an alert for a user to take a medicationfrom a target medication receptacle. The detection mechanism can detecta tag associated with a medication receptacle. Actions may be performedbased on a correlation between the detected tag and the targetmedication receptacle, such as deactivating the alert based at least inpart on detecting the tag associated with the target medicationreceptacle.

In a first aspect, the disclosure describes a method. The methodincludes capturing information about a medication label associated witha medication. The method also includes analyzing, by a first computingdevice, the information about the medication label to extract medicationinformation. Further, the method includes generating, by the firstcomputing device, a medication schedule for a corresponding patientassociated with the medication. The medication schedule includes adosage strength and dosage frequency. In addition, the method includesprompting, by a second computing device, the corresponding patient totake an amount of the medication corresponding to the dosage strength ata predetermined time according to the medication schedule. Stillfurther, the method includes receiving, by the second computing device,an indication that the corresponding patient has taken the amount of themedication corresponding to the dosage strength.

In a second aspect, the disclosure describes a mobile computing device.The mobile computing device is configured to capture information about amedication label associated with a medication. The mobile computingdevice is also configured to analyze the information about themedication label to extract medication information. Further, the mobilecomputing device is configured to generate a medication schedule for acorresponding patient associated with the medication. The medicationschedule includes a dosage strength and a dosage frequency. In addition,the mobile computing device is configured to prompt the correspondingpatient to take an amount of the medication corresponding to the dosagestrength at a predetermined time according to the medication schedule.Still further, the mobile computing device is configured to receive anindication that the corresponding patient has taken the amount of themedication corresponding to the dosage strength.

In a third aspect, the disclosure describes a non-transitory,computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, whenexecuted by a processor, perform a method. The method includes receivinginformation, from a computing device, about a medication labelassociated with a medication. The method also includes analyzing theinformation about the medication label to extract medicationinformation. Further, the method includes generating a medicationschedule for a corresponding patient associated with the medication. Themedication schedule includes a dosage strength and a dosage frequency.In addition, the method includes transmitting, to the computing device,the medication schedule for the corresponding patient. Still further,the method includes receiving, from the computing device, an indicationthat the corresponding patient has taken an amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength. The indication that thecorresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength was received by the computingdevice in response to the computing device prompting the correspondingpatient to take the amount of the medication corresponding to the dosagestrength at a predetermined time according to the medication schedule.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be inany way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments,and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and featureswill become apparent by reference to the figures and the followingdetailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a medicationcompliance system in accordance with at least one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of an example computer system inaccordance with at least one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram depicting an illustrative system in whichtechniques herein may be implemented in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a plurality of modules that may carryout embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a medication alertdevice and corresponding features of multiple medication receptacles inaccordance with at least one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a medication management applicationexecuted by a mobile computing device in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of a medication label in according with atleast one embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of a medication management applicationexecuted by a mobile computing device in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of a medication management applicationexecuted by a mobile computing device in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 10 is an illustration of a medication management applicationexecuted by a mobile computing device in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 11 is an illustration of a medication management applicationexecuted by a mobile computing device in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 12 is an illustration of a medication management applicationexecuted by a mobile computing device in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 13 is an illustration of a medication management applicationexecuted by a mobile computing device in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 14 is an illustration of a medication management applicationexecuted by a mobile computing device in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 15A is an illustration of a medication management applicationexecuted by a mobile computing device in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 15B is an illustration of a medication management applicationexecuted by a mobile computing device in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 15C is an illustration of a medication management applicationexecuted by a mobile computing device in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 16 is an illustration of a medication management applicationexecuted by a mobile computing device in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 17 is an illustration of a medication management applicationexecuted by a mobile computing device in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 18. is a flow chart illustrating a method in accordance with atleast one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, various embodiments of the presentinvention will be described. For purposes of explanation, specificconfigurations and details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the embodiments. However, it will also be apparent toone skilled in the art that the present invention may be practicedwithout the specific details. Furthermore, well-known features may beomitted or simplified in order not to obscure the embodiment beingdescribed.

Embodiments disclosed herein are directed to medication compliancesystems that include medication alert devices. A medication alert devicecan provide a reminder to a patient to take a medication. The medicationalert device may indicate a medication receptacle (such as a pillbottle) that may contain the medication referenced in the reminder, suchas by showing a shape and/or color indicia associated with themedication receptacle. The patient can select a medication receptacleand bring a cap or other feature of the medication receptacle near themedication alert device. The medication alert device can detect that thefeature is nearby and determine which medication receptacle is detected.Based on the medication receptacle detected, the medication alert devicecan perform a variety of actions. For example, when the detectedmedication receptacle matches the medication referenced in the reminder,the medication alert device may provide a confirmation of the match. Ina further example, detection of a medication receptacle may indicatethat the patient has taken a dose of the medication associated with thereceptacle, and the medication alert device may deactivate a reminder,such as turning off a shape and/or color indicia. In another example, anumber of times that a receptacle has been detected may be used toestimate an amount of medication consumed or remaining for a particularreceptacle. In yet another example, an amount of time between a reminderand a detection may be used to determine patterns of behavior and/oradjust timing of future reminders. In various embodiments, themedication alert device can communicate with other devices, such as toprovide information about medication compliance to healthcare providersand/or to receive updates, such as changes to reminder schedules ororganization of medication receptacles.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numeralsrepresent like parts throughout the several views, FIG. 1 shows anexample of a medication compliance system 100. The medication compliancesystem 100 can include a medication alert device 102 and a medicationreceptacle 104.

The medication receptacle 104 may be a pill bottle or any otherreceptacle capable of containing medication 124. Although descriptionherein primarily references pills, the disclosure is equally applicableto medication 124 of any kind, including, but not limited to, creams,ointments, syrups, serums, comestibles, or injectionables. Themedication receptacle 104 may include a cap 112 that is removable toaccess medication 124 contained within a body 122 of the medicationreceptacle 104. The medication receptacle 104 may include a label 120that identifies the medication intended to be contained in themedication receptacle 104.

The medication alert device 102 can come in a variety of forms. In someembodiments, the device is wearable by a user of the device. Forexample, the device may be incorporated into a wristband, a watch, abracelet, a necklace, a ring, a garment, a headband, a belt, a pair ofsuspenders, a pair of glasses, a glove, a gauntlet, a girdle, a harness,a shoe, or an implantable device. In some embodiments, the device may besized to facilitate ease of transport, such as to fit in a user's pocketor purse. For example, the device may be incorporated into a card, akeychain, a fob, a pocketknife, or a coin. In some embodiments, thedevice may include a software component of another device, such as apersonal computer, a tablet computer, a cell phone, or a smart watch.The device can be powered by any suitable mechanism including, but notlimited to, batteries, solar power, kinetic power, powered derived fromthermal couples, and/or power obtained by vibration.

The medication alert device 102 can include an alert mechanism 106 and adetection mechanism 116. The alert mechanism 106 and the detectionmechanism 116 can be collocated in a single device, or provided over twodevices. The alert mechanism 106 can provide a reminder to a patient totake a medication 124. For example, the alert mechanism 106 can providea reminder at a particular time of the day at which the medication 124is to be taken or after a certain interval since the medication 124 waslast taken.

In some embodiments, the alert mechanism 106 can provide a visualnotification, such as to provide a visual reminder to take themedication 124. The visual notification may include a display of anindicia 108 that matches an indicia 110 on the cap 112 or other featureof the medication receptacle 104, such as the label 120 or body 122.Examples of the indicia 108,110 include shapes, colors, and/or symbols(which can include text strings of letters or words). Matching indicia108 and 110 may assist a patient in locating a medication receptacle 104for the medication 124 that is the subject of the reminder. In anillustrative example, the alert mechanism 106 may include alight-emitting diode (LED) or a display capable of producing a widerange of different colors that correspond to a given color on some partof the medication receptacle 104. In some embodiments, a display may beincluded separately from the alert mechanism and/or may display otherinformation in addition to, or instead of, a reminder to take amedication 124. As an illustrative example, the medication alert device102 may include a touchscreen display user interface through which auser may configure the medication alert device 102 and/or receive otherinformation, such as information about the medication 124 and/or otherhealthcare details for the user.

In some embodiments, the alert mechanism 106 can provide an audiblenotification. For example, the alert mechanism may include a speakercapable of making a sound to remind a patient to take medication 124.The speaker may be tunable to cater to users with auditory impairment,such as altering a frequency of the audible notification for individualswith a narrower range of audible tones and/or increasing a volume of theaudible notification for those with difficulties hearing lower volumesounds. Illustrative examples of audible notifications include beeps,tones, speech, and/or music. The alert mechanism 106 may be programmableto allow a user to record and/or otherwise provide a customized audiblenotification.

In some embodiments, the alert mechanism 106 can provide a tactilenotification. For example, the alert mechanism 106 can include avibration system capable of vibrating a part or a whole of themedication alert device 102, such as to provide a physical stimulus ifand when the device is worn by a user or in contact with the user. Anyone of the notifications described herein (e.g., visible notifications,audible notifications or tactile notifications) can be used individuallyand/or in combination with other notifications or types ofnotifications. In some embodiments, a same type of notification can beprovided in different manners to indicate different meanings. As anillustrative example, the alert mechanism 106 may cause the medicationalert device 102 to provide vibrating pulses in pairs to indicate that auser should take two pills instead of one. In general, the medicationalert device 102 may be configured to accommodate different varieties ofmedication regimens and/or dosage.

In embodiments, the device 10 utilizes near field communication as partof the detection mechanism 116. For example, the detection mechanism 116may detect a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag 114 or otheritem, such as a marker, that can be used for identification within acertain distance of the detection mechanism 116. As illustrativeexamples, the certain distance may include a distance that correspondsto an item having the tag 114 coming into contact with the device 10,coming within a distance threshold of the device (such as 1 mm), orbeing within a distance range from the device (such as between 0 mm and20 mm). The tag 114 may be part of a cap 112, a label 120, a body 122,or other feature of the medication receptacle 104. Accordingly, thedetection mechanism 116 can detect if the medication receptacle 104 isnear the medication alert device 102. The detection mechanism 116 candetect such proximity in any suitable manner. For example, the detectionmechanism 116 can wirelessly detect the tag 114, as at 118, using RFIDor other wireless near field communication technology. Although wirelessnear field communication technology is one option, proximity may bedetected using any suitable technology, including scanning bar codes, aplug-in/socket arrangement, and/or any other communication methodbetween nearby objects.

In embodiments, the medication compliance system 100 provides amechanism for tracking a user's consumption of medication 124. Forexample, each time the tag 114 is detected may correspond to anotherinstance of the patient taking the medication 124.

In some embodiments, a reminder provided by the alert mechanism 106 maybe persistent. As illustrative examples, a visible, flashing lightnotification may continue flashing until deactivated, or an audiblenotification may repeat at recurring intervals until deactivated. Insome aspects, the notification may persist until a user has indicatedthat a medication 124 has been administered, such as by detection of atag 114 associated with a medication receptacle 104 for the medication124.

In some embodiments, the medication alert device 102 can execute otherfunctions in addition to-or as an alternative to-deactivating a reminderin response to detecting a tag 114. Examples of some such functions aredescribed in greater detail with respect to subsequent figures herein.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of an example computer 200 that canbe used in accordance with embodiments described herein. The computer200 typically includes at least one processor 260 which communicateswith a number of peripheral devices via a bus subsystem 262. Theseperipheral devices may include a storage subsystem 264, comprising amemory subsystem 266 and a file storage subsystem 268, user interfaceinput devices 270, user interface output devices 272, and a networkinterface subsystem 274. Network interface subsystem 274 provides aninterface to a communication network 275 for communication with othersystems, computers, databases, or the like.

The processor 260 performs the operation of the computer systems 200using execution instructions stored in the memory subsystem 266 inconjunction with any data input from an operator. Such data can, forexample, be input through user interface input devices 270, such as thegraphical user interface. Thus, processor 260 can include an executionarea into which execution instructions are loaded from memory. Theseexecution instructions will then cause processor 260 to send commands tothe computer system 200, which in tum control the operation of thecontainer control electronics. Although described as a “processor” inthis disclosure and throughout the claims, the functions of theprocessor may be performed by multiple processors in one computer ordistributed over several computers.

User interface input devices 270 may include a keyboard, pointingdevices such as a mouse, trackball, touch pad, or graphics tablet, ascanner, foot pedals, a joystick, a touchscreen incorporated into thedisplay, audio input devices such as voice recognition systems,microphones, and other types of input devices. In general, use of theterm “input device” is intended to include a variety of conventional andproprietary devices and ways to input information into the computersystem. Such input devices will often be used to download a computerexecutable code from a computer network or a tangible storage mediaembodying steps or programming instructions for any of the methods ofthe present invention.

User interface output devices 272 may include a display subsystem, aprinter, a fax machine, or non-visual displays such as audio outputdevices. The display subsystem may be a cathode ray tube (CRT), aflat-panel device such as a liquid-crystal display (LCD), a projectiondevice, or the like. The display subsystem may also provide non-visualdisplay such as via audio output devices. In general, use of the term“output device” is intended to include a variety of conventional andproprietary devices and ways to output information from the computersystem to a user.

Storage subsystem 264 stores the basic programming and data constructsthat provide the functionality of the various embodiments. For example,database and modules implementing the functionality of embodimentsdescribed herein may be stored in storage subsystem 264. These softwaremodules are generally executed by processor 260. In a distributedenvironment, the software modules may be stored in a memory of aplurality of computer systems and executed by processors of theplurality of computer systems. Storage subsystem 264 typically comprisesmemory subsystem 266 and file storage subsystem 268.

Memory subsystem 266 typically includes a number of memories including amain random-access memory (RAM) 276 for storage of instructions and dataduring program execution and a read-only memory (ROM) 278 in which fixedinstructions are stored. File storage subsystem 268 provides persistent(non-volatile) storage for program and data files, and may include ahard disk drive, re-writable non-volatile memory chips (such as Flashmemory), a floppy disk drive along with associated removable media, aCompact Digital Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) drive, an optical drive, DVD,CD-R, CD-RW, or removable media cartridges or disks. One or more of thedrives may be located at remote locations on other connected computersat other sites coupled to the computer system. The databases and modulesimplementing the functionality of the present invention may also bestored by file storage subsystem 268. The file storage subsystem mayhave directory and file descriptions for accessing the files, or it maystore data without descriptions and rely on the databases and modules ofthe system to locate the data.

Bus subsystem 262 provides a mechanism for letting the variouscomponents and subsystems of the computer system communicate with eachother as intended. The various subsystems and components of the computersystem need not be at the same physical location but may be distributedat various locations within a distributed network. Although bussubsystem 262 is shown schematically as a single bus, alternateembodiments of the bus subsystem may utilize multiple busses.

The computer 200 itself can be of varying types including a personalcomputer, a portable computer, a workstation, a computer terminal, anetwork computer, a module in a circuit board, a mainframe, or any otherdata processing system. Due to the ever-changing nature of computers andnetworks, the description of the computer system depicted in FIG. 2 isintended only as a specific example for purposes of illustrating oneembodiment. Many other configurations of the computer system arepossible having more or less components than the computer systemdepicted in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram depicting an illustrative system 300 inwhich techniques herein may be implemented in accordance with at leastone embodiment. The system 300 can include a device 302 for medicationalerts, such as the medication alert device 102 described above withrespect to FIG. 1. The device 302 can include a computer (e.g., such asthe computer 200 of FIG. 2) and/or the device 302 may communicate with acomputer that is separate from the device 302, such as a user computer304 or a third party computer 308. The user computer 304 may be acomputer (e.g., such as the computer 200 of FIG. 2) operated by a userof the device 302. In some embodiments, the device 302 may include amobile computing device, a tablet computing device, a wearable computingdevice, a laptop computing device, a desktop computing device, acomputing device associated with a smart speaker, or a computing deviceembedded within a household appliance. The third party computer 308 canbe a computer (e.g., such as the computer 200 of FIG. 2) operated by ahealthcare provider, a pharmacy, a research institution, or any otherparty of relevance with respect to the user's utilization of the device302. In various embodiments, the third party computer 308 may include aserver computing device (e.g., a cloud server). In some embodiments, thethird party computer 308 may store information regarding variouspatients in a relational database (e.g., a relational database executingstructured query language (SQL)).

The device 302 may communicate, as at 310, with the user computer 304.Communication can include sending and/or receiving information. The usercomputer 304 can, in turn, communicate with third party computers 308,such as at 312 and 316 via a network 306, such as the communicationnetwork 275. In some aspects, the device 302 can communicate directlywith a third party computer 308 via the network 306, as at 314 and 316.The device 302 may communicate by any suitable manner including, but notlimited to, wired communication or wireless communication such as nearfield communication, Bluetooth, WiFi, cellular radio standards, or otherwireless protocols. In some embodiments, the user computer 304 mayinclude a mobile computing device, a tablet computing device, a wearablecomputing device, a laptop computing device, a desktop computing device,a computing device associated with a smart speaker, or a computingdevice embedded within a household appliance. In some embodiments, thedevice 302 and the user computer 304 may be integrated together into asingle device.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a plurality of modules 380 that maycarry out embodiments. The modules 380 may be software modules, hardwaremodules, or a combination thereof If the modules are software modules,the modules will be embodied on a computer readable medium and processedby a processor 260 in any of computer systems of the present disclosure.

At least some of the modules 380 may utilize medication information 410.For example, the medication information 410 may be stored in a storagesubsystem 264 of any one of the computers 200 described herein. Themedication information 410 may include, but is not limited to, names ofmedications associated with a user of a medication alert device, dosageinformation for medications, indicia associated with medications, tagsassociated with medications, administration timing for medications,quantities of medication for a user to take (e.g., number of pills),number of refills a patient has on file with a pharmacy for medications,whether a doctor notification or supplemental prescription is requiredfor additional refills of any medications, a patient's age, a patient'sgender, conditions that a patient has been diagnosed with, an area inwhich the patient lives, a pharmacy that the patient uses, and/orinformation about the patient's healthcare providers.

An alert module 414 can utilize medication information 410, such as at412. The alert module 414 can trigger reminders for a patient to take amedication. For example, the alert module 414 may control an alertmechanism 106 based on medication information 410, such as timinginformation or indicia associated with the medication.

A detect module 418 can control detection performed by a medicationalert device. For example, the detect module 418 can operate a detectionmechanism 116 of a medication alert device 102. The detect module 418may activate the detection mechanism 116 in response to informationreceived from the alert module, as at 416, such as that an alert hasbeen activated. Such an arrangement may reduce a power consumption bythe detection mechanism 116. The detect module 418 may determine whichtag 114, if any, is in proximity to the medication alert device 102.

The response module 426 can determine a response to information receivedfrom the detect module 418 at 422, information received from the alertmodule 414 at 420, medication information 410 accessed at 424, or anycombination thereof For example, the response module 426 may processand/or transfer information to other modules, such as at 428, 434, 438,and/or 448. The response module 426 may determine information to send toother modules, based on information received by the response module. Forexample, the response module may send information relating to one typeof medication to one subset of modules and send information relating toa different medication to a different subset of modules.

A confirm module 430 can determine if a medication referenced in areminder issued by the alert module is the same as the medicationcorresponding to a detection made by the detect module 418. For example,the confirm module 430 may receive information (e.g., at 428 from theresponse module 426) that an alert was activated to remind a patient totake aspirin from a first bottle and that the detect module 418 detecteda tag for a bottle associated with aspirin. The confirm module 430 mayprovide a confirmation that the selected bottle corresponds to themedication of the reminder, in this case, aspirin. In some aspects, theconfirm module 430 can communicate with the alert module 414 (e.g., at432), such as to deactivate a reminder as a way of providing aconfirmation that the medication of the detected bottle and themedication of the reminder match. In another illustrative example, theconfirm module 430 may receive an indication that an alert was sent toremind a patient to take ibuprofen and a subsequent detection wasassociated with a bottle for aspirin. The confirm module 430 may providea warning that the medication of the reminder and the medication of thedetected bottle do not match.

A count module 436 can generate information based on a number of timesdetections have been made. For example, the count module 436 can receiveinformation, as at 434, about the number of times a tag 114 for aparticular medication receptacle 104 has been detected. The count module436 may determine an amount of medication 124 remaining in a particularmedication receptacle 104 by subtracting a number of times an associatedtag 114 has been detected from an initial amount of the medication 124determined from the medication information 410.

A time module 440 can determine timing information associated with otheroperations described herein. For example, the time module may receive,as at 438, information about when an alert was triggered and when amatching detection was made. The time difference may be used to analyzeand/or adjust the timing of future reminders and/or other actions.

A communication module 450 can coordinate communication between modules380 and/or other components described herein. To this end, thecommunication module may receive information from the confirm module430, as at 442, the count module 436, as at 444, the time module 440, asat 446, the response module 426, as at 448, medication information 410,as at 452, or any combination thereof In an illustrative example, theresponse module 426 can determine that count information from the countmodule 436 should be communicated from the device 302 by thecommunication module 450 to another device, such as a user computer 304and/or a third party computer 308. More specifically, medicationinformation 410 may indicate that a particular medication receptacle 104includes three pills, the detect module 418 may detect that themedication receptacle 104 was brought into proximity with the medicationalert device 102, the response module 426 may forward the information tothe count module 436, the count module 436 may calculate that two pillsremain in the medication receptacle 104 based on the detection andprevious count, the response module 426 may cause the information to becommunicated via the communication module 450 to update the medicationinformation 410 with the new count of two pills, and the response module426 may cause information to be communicated via the communicationmodule 450 to a third party computer 308 of a pharmacy to automaticallyrequest a refill of the medication.

Medication alert devices such as described herein (e.g., device 302) caninclude additional functionality which may be facilitated by thecommunication module 450 communicating between the device 302 and otherelectronic devices, such as computers 200. For example, informationassociated with the device 302 may be conveyed as electronic messages inthe form of email, social networking sites, conventional mail, phonecalls, voicemail messages, messaging services, text messaging, shortmessage service, and/or multimedia messaging service. Such informationmay be provided to a user, a healthcare provider, pharmacy, an insuranceprovider, a research institution, other parties, and/or any combinationthereof For example, electronic messages may be utilized to: remind auser to request a refill, request a new prescription, and/or pick up acompleted prescription; notify a user that a prescription has beenfilled at a pharmacy, that new alternative drugs are available, thatfollow-up appointments with healthcare providers are needed orscheduled, that test results are available, the costs associated withfurther prescriptions or appointments; inform a user about relevant andcontextual information based upon weather and/or environmentalconditions (e.g., if a patient has a respiratory condition, there is asmog alert in the area); and/or facilitate communication between thephysician, user, pharmacy, insurance provider, research institute,and/or other parties.

In some aspects, the communication module 450 can facilitatecommunication between the device and other sensors and/or medicaldevices. Such communication may permit data about the patient'sphysiological conditions to be correlated with the patient's medicationconsumption history, permit detected physiological conditions of thepatient to determine adjustments to dosing and/or timing of a medicationregimen (e.g., by changing the timing and/or content of reminders and/orinformation provided to a patient), and/or permit information relevantto a patient's condition and/or physiological state to be communicatedto the patient and/or another interested party (e.g., such as anadvertisement for a product that may treat symptoms that the patient isexperiencing, a recommendation and/or contact information or interfaceto contact a medical provider about the patient's physiological state,or graphical diagnostic information visible to the patient and ahealthcare provider to facilitate discussion of the condition).Non-limiting, non-exclusive, examples of other sensors and/or medicaldevices that may be utilized in communication with or otherwise inconjunction with the device include: glucose monitors (e.g., which maydetect a drop in blood sugar for a patient and shorten an intervalbefore the patient's next reminder to take an insulin shot),accelerometers, gyroscopes, vibration sensors, thermometers or othertemperature sensors, potentiometers, ohmmeters, voltmeters, lightsensors, force sensors, infrared proximity sensors, pressure sensors,pulse sensors, humidity sensors, tilt sensors, magnetometers, bloodpressure monitors, smart inhaler devices, pedometers, pulse monitors,prosthetics, implanted devices, pacemakers, cerebral spinal fluid (CSF)flow shunts, muscle relaxant pumps, etc.

In embodiments, the communication module 450 can communicate with othermodules and/or other devices to update the medication information 410.For example, the communication module 450 may receive a new drug regimento update information about medications included in the medicationinformation 410. The communication module 450 may allow medicationinformation 410 for a given patient be updated via any wireless standardor physical connection to the device at a pharmacy, healthcare provider,or user computer. In some embodiments, updates may be received byreading a medium imbedded with a wireless standard. As an illustrativeexample, a mail-order prescription may include a) medication receptacle104 (e.g., bottle) with a cap 112 having a detectable tag 114, and b) acard with an RFID chip that can be read by the medication alert device102 in order to update the device programming to function with the newmedication receptacle 104 (e.g., new bottle). The medication alertdevice 102 may have a designated “synching” interface to initiate anupdate, such as a button physically integrated into the device orappearing in a display of the medication device 102. The communicationmodule 450 may interface with an optical reader configured to read printon a label on a medication receptacle in order to update medicationinformation 410.

In some aspects, the response module 426 may compare newly receivedprogramming instructions to determine if they are more current thatcurrently maintained instructions. The response module 426 may preventnewly received programming instructions from overwriting existingprogramming instructions if the newly received instructions are older oroutdated, relative to the existing programming instructions. In someembodiments, the response module 426 can respond to updated medicationinformation 410 communicated via the communication module 450 bychecking if the newly updated medication information 410 corresponds toa patient associated with the medication alert device. If information inthe update is not designated for the associated patient, the responsemodule 426 may prevent the update from occurring.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a medication alertdevice 502 and corresponding features of multiple medication receptacles504 in accordance with at least one embodiment. The medication alertdevice 502 can include a plurality of different color lights 508A-508E,which may each correspond to a different colored cap 512A-512E ofdifferent medication receptacles 504A-504E. The lights 508 can provide asimple indicia to indicate which medication corresponds to a particularlight. For example, the blue light 508B may flash when it is time for auser wearing the medication alert device 502 to take a medicationcontained in the medication receptacle 504B having the blue lid 512B.The blue light 508B may persistently flash to provide a reminder to takethe medication until the blue lid 512B is removed from the medicationreceptacle 504B and brought into proximity of the medication alertdevice 502. The medication alert device 502 may additionally vibrate oremit a sound to draw extra attention to the flashing blue light 508B.When the blue lid 512B is brought into proximity with the medicationalert device 502, the medication alert device 502 may detect theproximity and deactivate the flashing blue light 508B.

As described above, in some embodiments, the device 302 and/or the usercomputer 304 illustrated in FIG. 3 may include a mobile computing device(e.g., a smartphone). Such a mobile computing device may include onemore computing systems (e.g., the computer 200 illustrated in FIG. 2).

FIG. 6 and FIGS. 8-17 illustrate the device 302 as a mobile computingdevice (e.g., smartphone). Such a mobile computing device may includeone or more processors (e.g., the processor 260 illustrated in FIG. 2)configured to execute a set of instructions stored within anon-transitory, computer-readable medium (e.g., stored within the filestorage subsystem 268 of the device 302, as illustrated in FIG. 2, or aremote file storage subsystem of a server). The set of instructions maycorrespond to a software application 602 (e.g., a medication managementapplication). The following figures are used to show and describepotential features of the software application 602. It is understoodthat the features of the software application 602 may be equallyperformed by other forms of the device 302. For example, the device 302may additionally or alternatively include a tablet computing device, awearable computing device (e.g., FITBIT, APPLE WATCH, etc.), a laptopcomputing device, a desktop computing device, a computing deviceassociated with a smart speaker (e.g., a smart speaker with a virtualassistant, such as SIRI, ALEXA, GOOGLE ASSISTANT, BIXBY, or CORTANA), apager, a computing device embedded within a smart household appliance(e.g., television, refrigerator, stove, oven, microwave oven, toaster,dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, blender, vacuum cleaner, etc.), or acomputing device embedded within a medication container (e.g., a pillbottle).

In order to carry out various functions of the software application 602,the device 302 may communicate with one or more servers (e.g.,communicate with cloud servers via a network 306, such as the publicInternet). Such servers may correspond to the third party computer 308,in some embodiments. While various functions and features may be shownand described herein as being carried out by the device 302, it isunderstood that any individual feature may equally be executed on theone or more servers. For example, as herein shown and described, thedevice 302 may execute image analysis on a captured image to determineinformation about the captured image (e.g., determine a number of pillspresent in the image). It is understood that, instead, the capturedimage could be transmitted to the one or more servers, and the one ormore servers could perform the same image analysis (e.g., and then sendthe result to the device 302). Similarly, while some data (e.g., medicalinformation about a patient) may be described as being stored on one ormore servers, it is understood that such data could additionally oralternatively be stored locally on the device 302.

In some embodiments, the instructions of the software application 602may be executed by one or more processors of the device 302 (e.g., amobile computing device) to enable the device 302 to perform one or moremedication management functions. For example, the software application602 may be executed to enable the device 302 to capture informationabout a medication label associated with a medication. Further, thesoftware application 602 may be executed to enable the device 302 toanalyze the information about the medication label to extract medicationinformation. In addition, the software application 602 may be executedto enable the device 302 to generate a medication schedule for acorresponding patient associated with the medication. The medicationschedule may include a dosage strength and dosage frequency. Stillfurther, the software application 602 may be executed to enable thedevice 302 to prompt the corresponding patient to take an amount of themedication corresponding to the dosage strength at a predetermined timeaccording to the medication schedule. Yet further, the softwareapplication 602 may be executed to enable the device 302 to receive anindication that the corresponding patient has taken the amount of themedication corresponding to the dosage strength.

Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, a remote computingdevice (e.g., a server, such as the third party computer 308 illustratedin FIG. 3) may have instructions stored thereon (e.g., stored on anon-transitory, computer-readable medium such as a file storagesubsystem 268, as illustrated in FIG. 2) that, when executed by aprocessor, perform a method. The method may include receivinginformation, from a computing device (e.g., the device 302), about amedication label associated with a medication. The method may alsoinclude analyzing the information about the medication label to extractmedication information. Further, the method may include generating amedication schedule for a corresponding patient associated with themedication. The medication schedule may include a dosage strength anddosage frequency. In addition, the method may include transmitting, tothe computing device, the medication schedule for the correspondingpatient. Still further, the method may include receiving, from thecomputing device, an indication that the corresponding patient has takenan amount of the medication corresponding to the dosage strength. Theindication that the corresponding patient has taken the amount of themedication corresponding to the dosage strength was received by thecomputing device in response to the computing device prompting thecorresponding patient to take the amount of the medication correspondingto the dosage strength at a predetermined time according to themedication schedule.

FIG. 6 illustrates features of the software application 602, accordingto example embodiments. The software application 602 may be a medicationmanagement application, for example. The screen illustrated in FIG. 6may correspond to a “home screen,” in some embodiments. In order toaccess the software application 602, a user may have to enter a set ofauthentication credentials (e.g., username and password) that areauthenticated against proper credentials (e.g., stored within a serverthat hosts the software application 602). As illustrated, any previouslyadded medications 604 that the patient takes may be listed. Thepreviously added medications 604 may each be individually selected bythe user to view more information about the respective medication 604,for example. Further, a button 606 may be displayed that enables a userto add an additional medication for a patient. When selected, the button606 may change the display of the software application 602 to thedisplays illustrated in FIG. 8 or FIG. 9, for example.

FIG. 7 illustrates a medication label 700. The medication label 700 maybe for a prescription medication or an over-the-counter medication, invarious embodiments. Medication labels 700 may correspond to varioustypes of medication (e.g., pills, creams, ointments, syrups, serums,comestibles, or injectionables, etc.). As illustrated, the medicationlabel 700 may include a variety of information. For example, themedication label 700 may indicate a pharmacy 702, a pharmacy address704, a pharmacy phone number 706, a prescription serial number 708, aprescribing physician 710, a prescription date 712, a patient name 714,a patient address 716, prescription instructions 718, a drug type 720, adrug quantity 722, a pharmaceutical manufacturer 724, prescriptionrefill information 726, expiration date 728, and a prescription barcode730. The information present on the medication label 700 may beextracted (e.g., via an image processing algorithm on an image of themedication label 700 captured by a camera of the device 302) to generatea medication schedule for a patient, for example.

In some embodiments, the pharmacy 702 may be indicated on the medicationlabel 700 using the name of the pharmacy. Additionally or alternatively,the pharmacy 702 may be indicated on the medication label by a logo ofthe pharmacy (e.g., including a specific color and/or design).

The prescription instructions 718 may include a drug dosage strength(e.g., in milligrams or number of pills) and/or a dosage frequency(e.g., in number of times per day).

The prescription barcode 730 may include all of the other information onthe medication label 700 in a concise, computer-readable form. In someembodiments, the prescription barcode 730 may be replaced by orsupplemented by one or more other codes (e.g., a QUICK-RESPONSE (QR)code).

In other embodiments, the medication label 700 may include lessinformation, additional information, or alternative information. Forexample, the medication label 700 may include a phone number of theprescribing physician, a website of the pharmacy, a website of theprescribing physician, an email address of the prescribing physician, anemail address of the pharmacy, a name of the pharmacist who filled theprescription, an email address of the pharmacist who filled theprescription, a price for the prescription, information about theinsurance policy used to pay for the prescription, initials of thepatient (e.g., first initial of first name and first initial of lastname), a patient identification (ID) number, a patient's date of birth,a proprietary name of the prescribed drug, and/or a generic name of theprescribed drug.

FIG. 8 illustrates features of the software application 602, accordingto example embodiments. As illustrated, the software application 602 mayallow for the capture of an image. Such an image may be captured in anomnibus scanning region 802. The omnibus scanning region 802 may providea view of a scene as captured by a camera (e.g., a smartphone camera orother camera connected to the device 302). Further, the omnibus scanningregion 802 may be used by the software application 602 to capture imagesof a variety of objects (e.g., medication labels, medication bottlespills themselves, diagnostic testing devices, such as a scale or bloodglucose sensor). As illustrated in FIG. 8, the omnibus scanning region802 may be used to capture an image of a medication label on aprescription medication bottle. Once the image of the medication labelis captured, the image may be stored within a storage of the device 302(e.g., a file storage subsystem 268, such as a hard drive). Additionallyor alternatively, the image may be transmitted to a server (e.g., athird party computer 308) associated with the software application 602and stored within a storage of the server (e.g., cloud storage).

Once the image is stored within a storage of the device 302 and/or aserver, image analysis may be performed on the image to extractinformation about the medication from the medication label in the image.Such image analysis may be performed on either or both of the device 302and the server. The image analysis/information extraction may include avariety of image processing techniques. In some embodiments, prior toextracting information from the image, the image may be manipulated intoa standardized/computer-readable form. For example, the image may beflattened, filtered (e.g., by subtracting background noise), cropped,scaled, etc. Further, in order to extract the information from theimage, the image analysis/information extraction may include machinelearning (e.g., using an object classifier that was previously trainedusing labeled training data from a database associated with the softwareapplication 602). Additionally or alternatively, optical characterrecognition (OCR) may be performed on the image and then the relevantinformation from the medication label could be read from the label(e.g., by a processor of the device 302 executing instructions of thesoftware application 602). In some embodiments (e.g., embodiments wherethe medication label in the captured image contains a barcode or othercode, such as the prescription barcode 730), the imageanalysis/information extraction may only include scanning the image fora code (e.g., barcode or QR code), identifying a code, reading the code,and then extracting all the medication information from the medicationlabel using only the code.

Regardless of the method by which the information is retrieved from theimage, the information may be stored as medication information for agiven medication of a given patient (e.g., based on the patient name 714and patient address 716 fields of the medication label). Thisinformation may later be used by the software application 602 (e.g.,executed on the device 302 and/or executed on a server) to perform anaction (e.g., generate a medication schedule for the patient or alert aphysician or pharmacist that a prescription has been filled by thepatient). Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, thisinformation extracted from the image can be compared to informationabout a patient stored in a database (e.g., within the device 302 or aserver associated with the software application 602) to ensure accuracy.For example, a date of birth of the patient, a name of the patient, anaddress of the patient, etc. can be compared with previously storedinformation associated with the patient who is using the device 302and/or the patient who is known to be associated with the medicationlabel in the captured image.

In alternate embodiments, in addition to or instead of capturing animage of the medication label 700, an image of the physical medicationmay be captured in the omnibus scanning region 802 of the softwareapplication 602. For example, an image of pills, creams, injectionables,etc. may be captured in the omnibus scanning region 802. Using imageprocessing techniques, such an image of the physical medication may beused to provide some information about the relevant prescription. Forexample, a captured image of a given type of pill (e.g. amoxicillin) maybe analyzed by an image analysis portion of the software application602. The image analysis may compare certain features of the pill (e.g.,color, size, shape, symbols on the pill, etc.) to features of variouslabelled images of pills in a repository stored on a server (e.g., arepository from a governmental agency, such as the national institute ofhealth a repository from a pharmaceutical company, or a repositoryassociated with the software application 602 itself). This may allow thesoftware application 602 to determine what type of pill is in thecaptured image, a dosage strength of the pill, a typical dosagefrequency associated with the captured pill, etc.

In still other embodiments, in addition to or instead of capturing animage of the medication label 700, an image of medical paperwork from ahealthcare provider (e.g., hospital discharge paperwork from a physicianto a patient, pharmaceutical instructions from a pharmacist to patient,paperwork from an insurance provider, etc.) may be captured by theomnibus scanning region 802 of the software application 602. Similarlyto above, a captured image of such paperwork could undergo imageanalysis to extract medication information corresponding to a patient.Further, in some embodiments, the medical paperwork may includeadditional information that is stored within a repository correspondingto the software application 602 (e.g., a server or a storage of thedevice 302). Such additional information may include times at whichcertain health maintenance activities are to be performed by the patient(e.g., performing a certain type of exercise for a certain length oftime, performing an at-home diagnostic test, scheduling a follow-upappointment with a physician, etc.).

In some embodiments, performing image processing on a captured image mayinclude determining if the captured image is blurred, obscured, orotherwise partially or wholly unusable. If it is determined that thecaptured image is partially or wholly unusable for some reason, thesoftware application 602 may prompt a user of the device 302 to capturean additional image. The additional image may be more clear, andtherefore, may allow the medication information to be extracted usingimage processing. After the additional image is captured, imageprocessing may be performed on the additional image. If the additionalimage is also determined be partially or wholly unusable for somereason, the software application 602 may prompt a user to enter themedication information from the medication label 700 manually (e.g., asillustrated in FIG. 9).

In some embodiments, in addition to or instead of capturing an imageusing the device 302 (e.g., in the omnibus scanning region 802), audioor video footage may be captured and analyzed. For example, video oraudio of a pharmacist or physician providing medication instructions maybe recorded. Then, such a recording could be analyzed to extractmedication information (e.g., in order to produce a medication schedulebased on dosage strength and dosage frequency described by the physicianor pharmacist).

FIG. 9 illustrates features of the software application 602, accordingto example embodiments. FIG. 9 illustrates a feature by which a user(e.g., a patient, a physician, a healthcare provider, a pharmacist, abenefits manager, an insurance company official, a nurse, a hospitalemployee, a grocery store employee, a care coordinator, a claimsprocessor, or another approved party) can enter patient medicationinformation into the software application 602 manually. The medicationinformation can be entered using various types of fields, such as textfields 902, calendar fields 904, and drop-down menus 906. The fields mayinclude a pharmacy name field, a pharmacy address field, a prescriptionnumber field, a prescribing physician field, a prescribing physicianaddress field, a prescription date field (e.g., when the prescriptionwas written or when the prescription was filled), a drug name field, adosage strength field, a dosage frequency field, a number of pillsfield, a drug manufacturer field, a number of refills permitted field,and a last refill date field. It is understood that other types ofinformation fields are also possible. Additionally, once all themedication information for a given medication has been entered, a button908 may be engaged to commit the medication information to a repository(e.g., to a storage of the device 302 and/or of a server associated withthe software application 602).

As illustrated, patient name/patient address are not listed as fieldsthat can be entered. This is because the instance of the softwareapplication 602 may already be linked to a specific patient, and thus,the software application 602 may already be aware of the patient towhich the medication information corresponds. However, in someembodiments (e.g., in embodiments where pharmacists or physicians areusing the software application 602 to enter information for multiplepatients at various times), there may be fields for patient name,patient address, patient social security number, patient ID number, etc.

In some embodiments, some of the fields may auto-populate based onmedication information stored within a storage corresponding to thesoftware application 602 (e.g., stored within a database on a server).For example, if a given patient refills a specific prescription at aspecific frequency (e.g., contraceptive prescription refilled monthly),each time the medication is refilled (e.g., each month), the medicationinformation for that specific prescription may auto-populate and thenthe user of the software application 602 can update/modify theinformation, as necessary. As another example, when a user selects adrug name and drug manufacturer, some of the remaining fields mayauto-populate with information based on information about the selecteddrug from a pharmaceutical company's repository or website.

In some embodiments, there may be fields or additional sections of thesoftware application 602 for additional information, such as healthmaintenance information or insurance information. For example, there maybe an additional section of the software application 602 where insuranceinformation (e.g., information from an insurance card) or identificationinformation (e.g., information from a driver's license) can be enteredfor a patient, stored for a patient, and, later, displayed for apatient. Additionally or alternatively, calendar information (e.g.,scheduled work-outs or future appointments with one or more physicians)may be entered manually. Further, in some embodiments, a physician maymanually enter other instructions for a patient (e.g., exerciserecommendations regarding type and frequency of exercise, referrals forother physicians, etc.). In some embodiments, one or more users of thesoftware application 602 may enter one or more informational reminders(e.g., contact information and/or location information for hospitals,insurance companies, pharmacists, care coordinators, etc.).

In various embodiments, regardless of the technique by which themedication information is input into the software application 602 (e.g.,using the omnibus scanning region 802 as in FIG. 8 or entered manuallyas in FIG. 9), the medication information may be used to generate amedication schedule for a corresponding patient. The medication schedulemay be generated by a computing device (e.g., by the device 302 or by aserver, such as the third party computer 308). Further, the medicationschedule may include a dosage strength of a medication and/or a dosagefrequency of a medication (e.g., take 50 mg of a certain drug betweenthe hours of 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM every day). Such dosage strength andfrequency may be based on the dosage strength and frequency from themedication label, for example. The dosage frequency may be used to settimes (e.g., morning, noon, night, etc. or 9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 6:30 PM,etc.) throughout the day when a given medication is to be taken.Additionally, other stored health information about the patient may betaken into account (e.g., stored information about the patient's height,weight, gender, age, stage of medication condition, length of time thepatient has been taking the medication, or doctor's recommendations) inorder to generate or modify the medication schedule. For example, themedication schedule may be updated in response to a patient losing orgaining weight, a condition of the patient worsening or improving, or apatient aging. Such information could be self-reported by a patient(e.g., by conducting an at-home diagnostic test, such as weighingthemselves and reporting the weight using the software application 602)or could be reported to the software application 602 by a medicalprofessional (e.g., a physician or a nurse after performing a diagnostictest). After being generated, the medication schedule may be used toprovide reminders to a patient to take their medication (e.g., as shownand described with references to additional figures below).

In some embodiments, medication information may be captured frommedication labels of two or more different medications. In suchembodiments, the two or more different medications may each be includedin generated medication schedules (e.g., with separate dosage strengthsand/or dosage frequencies). In addition, the computing device (e.g., thedevice 302 or a server) generating the medication schedules for each ofthe medications may take any adverse drug interactions that exist amongthe medications into account. For example, if a first medicationincludes daily calcium supplements and a second medication includestetracycline antibiotics (e.g., for treatment of acute urinary tractinfections), the times at which the daily calcium supplements are to betaken may be staggered from the times at which the tetracyclineantibiotics are to be taken (e.g., staggered by 2 or more hours),because calcium supplements and tetracycline antibiotics are known tohave potential adverse drug interactions with one another if taken inclose temporal proximity. Such staggering based on potential adversedrug interactions among two or more medications may prevent negativehealth consequences for a patient while maintaining proper dosagestrengths and dosage frequencies for each of the medications. Further,as additional medications are added or removed from a repository (e.g.,removed from a data storage corresponding to the software application602, such as a server, by a user of the device 302), the medicationschedule for each of the remaining medications may be updated. Using theexample above, if the tetracycline antibiotics no longer need to betaken by a corresponding patient, the medication schedule for thetetracycline antibiotics may be deleted and the calcium supplementmedication schedule may be adjusted to reflect the fact that there areno longer any potential adverse drug interactions among the medicationsbeing taken by the patient.

The medication schedule(s) may be stored locally (e.g., on a filestorage subsystem 268 of the device 302) and/or remotely (e.g., on afile storage subsystem 268 of a server, such as the third party computer308). In addition, in some embodiments, one or more physicians of acorresponding patient may have access to the generated medicationschedule(s). Further, a record associated with the corresponding patientmay be kept in the software application 602 (e.g., stored locally withinthe device 302 and/or stored remotely within a server) regarding thepast times at which the corresponding patient took specific medications(i.e., a medication compliance log may be maintained). This medicationcompliance log may be used by physician(s) to discuss compliance withthe corresponding patient or to modify a treatment regimen for thecorresponding patient.

Still further, the medication schedule may be supplemented and/orreplaced by a treatment schedule in some embodiments. A treatmentschedule may include workouts for a corresponding patient at specifiedtimes, at-home diagnostic tests for a corresponding patient at specifiedtimes (e.g., blood glucose testing for a diabetic patient), trips to oneor more physicians' offices for the corresponding patient, specifiedmeal plans (e.g., in terms of foods and/or specified mealtimes) for thecorresponding patient, and a specified sleeping schedule for thecorresponding patient.

FIG. 10 illustrates features of the software application 602, accordingto example embodiments. As illustrated, the software application 602 maycapture context 1002 relating to the present state of the patientcorresponding to the software application 602. The context 1002 can beused to modify a medication schedule (e.g., the medication schedulepreviously generated based on the medication information from themedication label). The example illustrated in FIG. 10 includes thesoftware application 602 receiving input from a patient regarding a painlevel of the patient. Based on the indicated pain level, the medicationschedule may be adjusted accordingly (e.g., a dosage strength and/ordosage frequency of an associated medication may be modified accordingto the pain level). For example, if a patient has a high level of pain,the dosage strength for the next scheduled dose of acetaminophen may beincreased.

In other embodiments, other context information may be received and/orused to modify medication schedules. For example, context can includetime (e.g., 10:00 AM), time of day (e.g., morning), location of user(e.g., global positioning system (GPS) coordinates based on the locationof the device 302), properties of the patient's environment (e.g.,weather, temperature, ultraviolet (UV) levels, smog levels, air qualitymetrics, etc.), the patient's medication history (e.g., whichmedications they are scheduled to take and the patient's adherence tomedication schedules), the patient's health history (e.g., medicalconditions of the patient, medical conditions for which the patient hasreceived treatment, locations where the patient has previously beentreated, where the patient receives their medication, costs ofmedication in surrounding locations when the patient filled a givenmedication prescription, locations of healthcare providers of thepatient, distance between patient's home and healthcare providers and/orpharmacies, distance between patient's place of employment andhealthcare providers and/or pharmacies, etc.).

FIG. 11 illustrates features of the software application 602, accordingto example embodiments. The feature illustrated in FIG. 11 may allow auser to enter into the software application 602 which medications havebeen taken on a given day based on one or more generated medicationschedules. As illustrated, the feature may include one or more time ofday tabs 1102, one or more check boxes 1104, and a select all button1106. The time of day tabs 1102 may allow a user (e.g., a patient orhealthcare provider) to select different times of day at which one ormore medications may be scheduled to be taken based on their generatedmedication schedules. The check boxes 1104 may allow a user (e.g., apatient or healthcare provider) to select those medications that weretaken at the indicated time. For example, in FIG. 11, the correspondingpatient may have taken one tablet of glipizide at 9:00 AM. Because in atleast some cases a patient will have taken all medication scheduled foran indicated time, the select all button 1106 may conveniently place acheck in the check boxes 1104 next to each medication listed at theindicated time.

A list (e.g., stored within the device 302 and/or on a server) may beupdated based on the medications that are indicated as taken to reflectwhich of the medications were taken by the corresponding patient (i.e.,an medication adherence log may be updated). As described above, in someembodiments such a list can be viewed by a healthcare provider (e.g.,physician or nurse). Such a healthcare provider may view the list on thedevice 302 or on another device (e.g., third party computer 308)executing a different instance of the software application 602, invarious embodiments.

In some embodiments, in addition to or instead of selecting medicationsthat have been taken manually, a user of the device 302 may input themedications as an image (e.g., via a camera using the omnibus scanningregion 802). The image may be a captured image of the medicationimmediately prior to a patient taking the medication (e.g., a picture ofa pill immediately prior to the patient ingesting the pill), forexample. Using an image processing algorithm (e.g., object recognitionor OCR), a processor (e.g., of the device 302 or of a server) mayextract type of medication and/or quantity of medication taken by thepatient from the captured image. Using the information extracted by theimage processing algorithm, the computing device (e.g., the device 302or a server) may update a list of medications taken by a correspondingpatient.

In still other embodiments, such as embodiments where the device 302includes a smart speaker (e.g., a smart speaker with a virtualassistant, such as SIRI, ALEXA, GOOGLE ASSISTANT, BIXBY, or CORTANA),rather than selecting medications that have been taken manually, a userof the device 302 may provide spoken confirmation as to whichmedications have been taken by the corresponding patient. For example, auser of the device 302 may say, “I have taken 250 mg of ibuprofen at3:07 PM.” Such spoken confirmation may be captured by the softwareapplication 602.

FIG. 12 illustrates features of the software application 602, accordingto example embodiments. The features of FIG. 12 may represent atechnique by which the software application 602 determines an amount ofremaining medication within a given prescription and/or medicationcontainer (e.g., a number of pills remaining in a pill bottle). Asillustrated in FIG. 12, medication (e.g., pills) may be poured out(e.g., onto a solid background, such as a countertop with a white orblack background) and then captured using a camera (e.g., via theomnibus scanning region 802). Using image analysis (e.g., objectrecognition, edge detection, shape matching, color matching, textmatching, texture matching, OCR, etc.), the amount of medicationremaining may be counted (e.g., the number of pills remaining may becounted). Counting the amount of medication remaining may includecomparing portions of the captured image to information from arepository (e.g., pill color, pill shape, and/or pill size stored withina government server, such as a publicly available NIH repository).

Alternatively, an image of a scale may be used to determine the amountof medication remaining in a prescription. For example, a user maycapture an image of a tube of ointment on the scale. Such an image maybe captured using a camera (e.g., via the omnibus scanning region 802).Using image analysis (e.g., OCR), a computing device may determine theweight of the ointment on the scale based on a reading of the scale inthe captured image. Then, by subtracting a known weight of the tube(e.g., stored within a repository associated with the softwareapplication 602, either in the device 302, in a server associated withthe software application 602, and/or a server of a government agency,such as the NIH, or publicly available server of a pharmaceuticalcompany) and dividing by the known weight of a single dose for thecorresponding medication (e.g., also stored within a repositoryassociated with the software application 602, either in the device 302,in a server associated with the software application 602, and/or aserver of a government agency, such as the NIH, or publicly availableserver of a pharmaceutical company), the number of doses of medication(e.g., cream) remaining in the prescription may be determined.

In still other embodiments, rather than capturing an image to determinean amount of remaining medication, the amount of medication remaining ina prescription may be tracked from an initial medication quantity (e.g.,as extracted from a medication label) based on each time a correspondingpatient takes the medication and in what quantity the medication istaken. For example, if a patient receives a prescription with 150 pillsin a pill container (e.g., as indicated on the medication label), aninitial amount of medication may be set to 150 pills. Then, as thepatient begins to take the medication, the number of remaining pills maybe decremented. For example, if a patient takes 1 pill in the morning,the patient may indicate on the software application 602 (e.g., manuallyusing the device or by capturing an image of the pill using a camerabefore ingesting the pill) that 1 pill has been taken. Thus, the numberof remaining pills (e.g., an integer of remaining medication storedwithin the device 302 and/or within a server associated with thesoftware application 602) may be reduced from 150 to 149.

Regardless of how the amount of medication is monitored, the device 302and/or a server associated with the software application 602 may contacta pharmacy to refill a prescription once the amount of medicationremaining falls below a threshold value (e.g., a threshold valuepreviously set by the patient, by a pharmacy, or by a physician or adefault threshold value equal to some percentage of the total initialmedication, such as 20%, 10%, 5%, 1%, etc.). The pharmacy that iscontacted to refill the prescription may be the nearest pharmacy to thepatient's home address, in some embodiments. In other embodiments, thepharmacy that is contacted to refill the prescription may be thepharmacy listed on a medication label associated with the medicationinitially captured (e.g., via a camera) by the device 302 (e.g., asillustrated in FIG. 8). Further, before contacting a pharmacy to refillthe prescription, the medication information (e.g., from the medicationlabel of the medication captured by a camera previously) may beconsulted (e.g., by the device 302 or a server associated with thesoftware application 602) to confirm that a refill of the prescriptionis allowed by the prescribing physician/pharmacist (e.g., theprescription refill information 726 may be checked). If one or morerefills are permitted, the pharmacy may be contacted to initiate arefill. If refills are not permitted, the pharmacy may not be contacted.

FIG. 13 illustrates features of the software application 602, accordingto example embodiments. In some embodiments, the software application602 may prompt a patient to enter health information (e.g., based on anat-home diagnostic test). As illustrated, the device 302 may display toa user of the device 302 (e.g., a patient, a physician, or an approvedthird party) a health information box 1302. The health information box1302 may have a health information field 1304 (e.g., a text field, anumeric field, a calendar field, a drop-down menu, etc.). In the exampleembodiment illustrated in FIG. 13, the health information field 1304 maybe a numeric field used to enter blood glucose (e.g., in units ofmg/dl). The health information box 1302 may also include a submit button1306 used to commit the entered value in the health information field1304 to a health information repository associated with the softwareapplication 602 (e.g., stored within the device 302 and/or stored withinan associated server). In other embodiments, there may be more than onehealth information field (e.g., possibly for different types of healthinformation, such as one health information field for blood glucose, onehealth information field for blood pressure, and one health informationfield for body weight). In some embodiments, in addition to or insteadof requesting results of an at-home diagnostic test, the healthinformation box 1302 may prompt a user (e.g., a corresponding patient)to perform a different health management task. For example, the healthinformation box 1302 may prompt a user to perform a specific type ofexercise, to eat a specific type/quantity of food, or to sleep for aspecific number of hours.

At-home diagnostic tests may be prompted by the software application 602based on a corresponding patient's disease state. For example, if apatient has type I diabetes the interval at which the patient performsand reports the results of an at-home blood glucose test may bedifferent than if a patient has type II diabetes. The correspondingpatient's disease state may be provided by a healthcare provider (e.g.,a physician, a nurse, a hospital, an insurance provider, a pharmacy,etc.), by the corresponding patient, or by an approved third party(e.g., the spouse or parent of the corresponding patient). Further, thecorresponding patient's disease state may be provided by a user of thesoftware application 602 (e.g., a physician, a corresponding patient, oran approved third party) or retrieved from a health informationrepository (e.g., associated with the software application 602 orassociated with a hospital).

Alternatively, based on the medications that the corresponding patientis taking (e.g., stored within a repository associated with the softwareapplication 602), a list of possible disease states may be generated,and a user of the software application 602 may choose from a list of thedisease states based on one or more disease states actually exhibited bythe corresponding patient. For example, if the patient is presentlyprescribed a medication typically associated with high blood pressure,the software application 602 may ask a user (e.g., the patient) if thepatient has high blood pressure. If the user responds in theaffirmative, then the high blood pressure disease state may be added toa list of disease states of the patient. This list may be used to promptat-home diagnostic tests or provide reminders (e.g., reminder to visit aphysician or refill a prescription) to a user of the softwareapplication 602 (e.g., the patient), as described above. Further,scheduled reminders and/or prompted at-home diagnostic tests may beadjusted over time based on changes in the patient's disease state(s)and/or rates of changes in the patient's disease state(s).

The health information box 1302 may be used to indicate information to auser of the device 302/software application 602 (e.g., to thecorresponding patient) in addition to or instead of requesting resultsfrom an at-home diagnostic test (e.g., a blood glucose test or a bodyweighing). For example, the health information box 1302 could be used toremind a patient: to schedule an appointment (e.g., with a specifichealthcare provider, such as a specific physician), to attend apreviously scheduled appointment (e.g., with a specific healthcareprovider, such as a specific physician), to pick up a medication (e.g.,a prescription medication) from a specific pharmacy, to refill amedication (e.g., a prescription medication), to request authorizationof a healthcare provider (e.g., a specific physician) to authorize arefill of a given medication (e.g., a given prescription medication), toattend a previously scheduled appointment to run laboratory tests (e.g.,a previously scheduled appointment to have blood samples collected andblood tests run), etc.

In still other embodiments, rather than using a manual entry method forhealth information, an image may be captured to provide healthinformation. For example, an image may be captured using a camera (e.g.,a smartphone camera of the device 302) via the omnibus scanning region802. Using image analysis (e.g., OCR), the captured image may beanalyzed by a computing device to determine captured health information.For example, if the health information includes a blood glucose levelfor a patient, and the captured image is of a device used to measureblood glucose, a reading of the device (as captured in the image) mayinclude units associated with blood glucose (e.g., mg/dl). These unitsmay be read by the computing device using OCR/text recognition, forexample. Thus, the computing device can determine what type of healthinformation is contained in the captured image and can store theinformation in a corresponding health information repository (e.g.,within the device 302 and/or a server).

In some embodiments, a hybrid of the two above-described techniques maybe used. For example, a user could provide a captured image along with atag that indicates what type of health information is shown in thecaptured image. In this way, the computing device may select a specifictype of image processing algorithm to determine what the healthinformation is. For example, the computing device may select an OCR/textrecognition algorithm if the captured health information is a scalereading of a body weight, but may instead select an edge-detectionalgorithm if the captured health information is a height of a patientbased on a captured image of the patient and reference points (e.g., ona tape measurer or ruler also present in the captured image). FIG. 14illustrates features of the software application 602, according toexample embodiments. Similar to FIG. 13, as illustrated in FIG. 14, thesoftware application 602 may include a health information box. Thehealth information box in FIG. 14 may include a health informationsummary 1402. The health information summary 1402 may include a list ofthe most pertinent health information for a corresponding patient. Themost pertinent health information may be selected by a user of thesoftware application 602 (e.g., a patient or a healthcare provider), maybe selected based on severity (e.g., the health information that posesthe greatest present risk to a corresponding patient), or may beselected based on a disease state of a corresponding patient (e.g., if apatient has diabetes, blood glucose information will be included in thehealth information summary 1402). In addition to displaying the mostpertinent health information for review in the health informationsummary 1402, the software application 602 may display any recommendedhealth maintenance tasks. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 14, thesoftware application 602 may recommend to a user (e.g., the patient)that the patient contact a physician based on some of the healthinformation (e.g., based on high blood pressure).

In some embodiments, other information (e.g., otheralerts/recommendations) can be displayed using the software application602. For example, the software application 602 may display a suggesteddiet or workout regimen based on the corresponding patient's healthinformation (e.g., “it is recommended that the patient reduce caloricintake to 2200 calories/day” or “it is recommended that the patientraise her heart rate to 130 bpm for at least 30 minutes three times aweek”). Additionally or alternatively, the software application 602 canprovide medication adherence advice (e.g., based on the adherenceindicated by the corresponding patient), advice on how to report at-homediagnostic results (e.g., correct units to include in a text fieldwithin the software application 602 for at-home diagnostic testresults), and/or advice on how their presently prescribed medicationimproves health outcomes (e.g., “did you know that 40% of patients whotake metformin with 100% compliance for 3 months reduce their A1c by1.1%, on average?”). Even further, the software application 602 mayinclude instructional games and/or videos that could be displayed inorder to assist the corresponding patient in achieving her healthcaregoals or adhering to her medication/workout/diet regimens (e.g., asprescribed by one or more healthcare providers).

FIG. 15A illustrates features of the software application 602, accordingto example embodiments. When medication schedule(s) (e.g., a medicationschedule previously generated by a computing device based on a capturedimage of a medication label) for a corresponding patient dictates that amedication is to be taken by the corresponding patient, an alarm 1502may be sounded/displayed by the software application 602. The alarm 1502may assist in reminding the corresponding patient to take the propermedication(s) in the proper dosage strength(s) at the proper time ofday. As illustrated, the alarm 1502 may include a statement about whichmedication is presently to be taken by the corresponding patient (e.g.,“please take your methocarbamol pill now,” “please take 500 mg ofibuprofen now,” “please take 100 mg of hydrocodone within the next halfhour,” “please take three of pill type X and two of pill type Y beforebreakfast,” etc.). In some embodiments, the alarm 1502 may includebraille instructions. Braille may also be used in conjunction with anyother aspect of the embodiments described herein (e.g., braille may beused to prompt at-home diagnostic tasks, to display medicationinformation, etc.).

In some embodiments, the alarm 1502 may be silenced once the patient ora user of the device 302 provides evidence and/or a confirmation thatthe medication has been taken in the appropriate amount. In otherembodiments, the alarm 1502 may be silenced by a user of the device 302independently of providing evidence/confirmation that the medication hasbeen taken in the appropriate amount. In some embodiments, in additionto or instead of a reminder about taking a medication based on amedication schedule, the software application 602 may provide a reminderto perform a scheduled health maintenance task (e.g., perform a givendiagnostic test or workout for a specific duration).

Also as illustrated, the software application 602 may display a reminderimage 1504 to assist in the patient taking the appropriate medicationand/or the appropriate dosage strength. For example, the reminder image1504 may be an image of a pill (e.g., showing the shape, color, size,etc. of the pill) that corresponds to the scheduled medication. In someembodiments, the image of the pill may be taken from a government (e.g.,NIH) repository or from a public repository associated with apharmaceutical company (e.g., the pharmaceutical company thatmanufactures the corresponding medication). Additionally oralternatively, the image of the pill may be stored in a repositoryassociated with the software application 602 (e.g., stored within thedevice 302 and/or within a server). In some embodiments, the repositoryof reminder medication images may include a flattened, gold standardimage of the overall morphology of every pill from every manufacturer.

In addition to a reminder image 1504 that illustrates the medication, insome embodiments, instructional images, diagrams, videos, or audioinstructions may accompany the alarm 1502. The instructional images,instructional diagrams, instructional videos, or audio instructions maydescribe to a user of the software application 602 (e.g., a patient oran approved third party) how to take the medication. For example, if themedication is an ointment, there may be an instructional image orinstructional video showing where on the body and in what approximatequantity to apply the ointment. Alternatively, if the medication is aninjectionable, there may be an instructional diagram or instructionalvideo showing how to load an injection device with the injectionable andwhere on the body to inject the injectionable. Other exampleinstructional images, instructional diagrams, instructional videos, oraudio instructions are also possible.

Reminder images 1504, instructional images, instructional diagrams,instructional videos, or audio instructions may be provided by thesoftware application 602 as popup notifications, text messages, emails,in-app notifications, push notifications, etc. Further, the softwareapplication 602 may request and/or require confirmation that a user(e.g., the patient or an approved third party) has received thecorresponding reminder image 1504, instructional image, instructionaldiagram, instructional video, or audio instructions. In exampleembodiments where the device 302 includes a smart speaker (e.g., a smartspeaker with a virtual assistant, such as SIRI, ALEXA, GOOGLE ASSISTANT,BIXBY, or CORTANA), the user may provide such a confirmation using voiceaffirmation.

In some embodiments, the alarm 1502 and/or the reminder image 1504 mayhave associated indicators (e.g., shape(s), color(s), number(s),symbol(s), sound(s), light(s), etc.). The associated indicators maycorrespond to a medication that is to be taken by the patient. Forexample, a corresponding shape, color, number, symbol, etc. may beprinted on a medication container corresponding to the appropriatemedication or on the appropriate medication itself (e.g., a pill may bethe corresponding color), and the same corresponding shape, color,number, symbol, etc. may be displayed in the reminder image 1504. Inthis way, a user of the device 302 may have an additional technique bywhich to determine the appropriate medication.

FIG. 15B illustrates features of the software application 602, accordingto example embodiments. In some embodiments, the software application602 may display an alarm silence button 1512 when displaying the alarm1502. As illustrated, the alarm silence button 1512 may be aconfirmation that the corresponding medication has been taken. In someembodiments, the alarm silence button 1512 may snooze or dismiss thealarm 1502, regardless if the corresponding has been taken by thepatient. In some embodiments, both types of alarm silence buttonspreviously described (e.g., a confirmation button and a snooze/dismissbutton) may be displayed simultaneously.

Also as illustrated in FIG. 15B, an image of the medication that thepatient is about to take may be captured (e.g., using a camera) via theomnibus scanning region 802. In some embodiments, in addition to orinstead of capturing an image of the physical medication (e.g., thepills themselves), an image of a corresponding medication containerand/or a corresponding medication label may be captured. Further, insome embodiments, video or audio may be captured (e.g., a patient couldspeak into a microphone to say what kind of medication they will betaking and in what quantity or the patient could video record themselvestaking a medication).

The captured image may then be analyzed (e.g., by the device 302 and/orby a server associated with the software application 602) to ensure thepatient is taken the proper medication (e.g., the medicationcorresponding to the alarm 1502) in the proper dosage. The capturedimage may be analyzed before the patient takes the medication in thecaptured image or after the patient takes the medication in the capturedimage, in various embodiments. If the proper medication and/or properdosage is not captured in the image of the medication, the device 302may provide a warning (e.g., by displaying a warning on the device 302and/or sounding a warning using speakers of the device 302). Suchwarnings are shown and described with reference to FIG. 15C below.

In other embodiments, the alarm 1502 may be silenced using alternativemethods. For example, a medication container (e.g., pill bottle) mayinclude a transmitter that emits electromagnetic signals (e.g.,near-field communication (NFC) signals, radio-frequency identification(RFID) signals, signals based on Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WIFI signals), signals based on IEEE802.15.4 standards (Zigbee signals), or BLUETOOTH signals). Such signalsmay be encrypted, in some embodiments. The device 302 may include or maybe communicatively coupled to a receiver that receives theelectromagnetic signals emitted by the transmitter when the receiver ispositioned sufficiently proximate to the transmitter. Once the receiverdetects the electromagnetic signals emitted by the transmitter, thealarm 1502 may be silenced.

In some embodiments, the alarm 1502 may include a virtual assistant froman associated smart speaker (e.g., SIRI, ALEXA, GOOGLE ASSISTANT, BIXBY,CORTANA, etc.) or from the device 302 providing an audio reminder to apatient reminding the patient to take the corresponding medication in acorresponding quantity. The audio reminder to the patient may berepeated by the virtual assistant at predetermined intervals (e.g.,every 15 seconds, every 30 seconds, every minute, every 2 minutes, every5 minutes, every 10 minutes, every 15 minutes, every 20 minutes, every30 minutes, every hour, etc.) until silenced by a spoken commandreceived by the virtual assistant (e.g., via a microphone attached to orintegrated with the smart speaker). Further, in some embodiments, thealarm 1502 may only be silenced by the user for whom the notification isintended (e.g., by the patient or by an approved healthcare provider ofthe patient). This may be achieved using a speaker recognition (i.e.,voice recognition) algorithm executed by a processor onboard the smartspeaker or within a server associated with the software application 602,for example.

FIG. 15C illustrates features of the software application 602, accordingto example embodiments. As described above, the software application 602may display a warning 1522 when a patient has taken or is about to takethe wrong medication or an inappropriate dosage (e.g., an overdose). Thewarning 1522 may be triggered based on an image of the medication thatthe patient is about to take that is captured in response to an alarm1502. In some embodiments, the warning 1522 may include a sound and/or avideo.

The warning 1522 may provide a user of the device 302 (e.g., a patientor a healthcare provider) with instructions. For example, the warning1522 may state “please refrain from taking the medication pictured” or,as illustrated, “You took the wrong pills and in a quantity that isdangerous. Please call 911 immediately!” In other embodiments, a phonenumber of the nearest poison control center may be listed and/orimmediately dialed by the device 302. In some embodiments, the warning1522 may provide a recommendation that the patient take the appropriatemedication and/or dosage in the future (e.g., if a patient takes asingle ibuprofen pill, but it is recommended that the patient take twoibuprofen pills, the warning 1522 may state “You have been instructed bya physician to take two ibuprofen pills every morning for pain, ratherthan one. In the future, take two ibuprofen pills instead.”). Similarly,the warning 1522 may provide an instruction to a physician (e.g., if thephysician were a user of the device 302) to provide remedialinstructions to the corresponding patient regarding the correspondingmedication.

FIG. 16 illustrates features of the software application 602, accordingto example embodiments. The software application 602 may display acredential token request dialog box 1602 used in generating a credentialtoken and a generated credential token 1604. The generated credentialtoken 1604 may provide access to a corresponding patient's privatehealth information (e.g., medication schedules, treatment regimen,disease states, name of medication(s) being taken, dosage amount ofmedication(s), dosage frequency of medication(s), medication adherencelog that indicates when a patient has actually taken certainmedications). This information may be provided to a pharmacist,physician, or other trusted third party (e.g., family member), forexample.

As illustrated, the credential token request dialog box 1602 may captureinformation that is used to generate a credential token. For example,the credential token request dialog box 1602 may capture informationregarding which user(s) (e.g., based on corresponding username) canutilize the generated credential token 1604. Additionally oralternatively, the credential token request dialog box 1602 may captureinformation regarding the duration for which the generated credentialtoken 1604 will be valid after initial use (e.g., 10 minutes, 20minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 5 hours, 24 hours, 1week, 1 month, etc.) or information regarding an expiration date beforewhich the generated credential token 1604 must be used. Hence, thecredential token request dialog box 1602 may include one or more entryfields (e.g., text fields, numeric fields, calendar fields, drop downmenus, etc.).

The generated credential token 1604 may be transmitted from the device302 (e.g., the patient's device) to a different device (e.g., a deviceof a family member or a physician). For example, the generatedcredential token 1604 may be an image (e.g., .png, .jpeg, .bmp, etc.) ora password (e.g., a string of text or an integer) that may be emailed orsent within a text message to a different device. As illustrated, thegenerated credential token 1604 may be a generated QR code.Alternatively, the generated credential token 1604 may be a generatedbarcode. Once the image or the password is received by another device,that device may submit the image or the password to a server associatedwith the software application 602 via an instance of the softwareapplication 602 on that device. The software application 602 may thenprovide access to the device that submitted the generated credentialtoken 1604: until access is manually revoked by the device 302 thatinitially produced the generated credential token 1604 or for apredetermined time as set by the user whose device initially producedthe generated credential token 1604. Providing access to the healthinformation of the patient may include allowing the device thatsubmitted the generated credential token 1604 to access a serverassociated with the software application 602 that stores healthinformation for the patient. Additionally or alternatively, providingaccess to the health information of the patient may include a serverassociated with the software application 602 transmitting a copy of thehealth information of the patient (e.g., in the form of one or moreelectronic files having extension types .pdf, .doc, .jpeg, .png, .bmp,.xls, .csv, .txt, etc.) to the device that submitted the generatedcredential token 1604.

FIG. 17 illustrates features of the software application 602, accordingto example embodiments. In some embodiments, one or more devices may usethe software application 602 to provide tailored content (e.g.,advertisements for specific medications based on a patient's diseasestate or health conditions) to one or more other devices associated withthe software application 602. Such tailored content may be producedusing health information from a plurality of devices.

In some embodiments, a device providing tailored content may broadcast arequest 1702 to each other device within a predetermined proximity ofthe device providing tailored content. For example, a device in aphysician's office or a waiting room of an emergency care facility maybroadcast a request 1702 to other devices. The request 1702 may requestaccess to health information about the corresponding patient of eachdevice/each instance of the software application 602. Using responsebuttons 1704, a user of the device 302 (e.g., the corresponding patient)may select whether to provide access to such health information to thedevice in the physician's office or the waiting room of the emergencycare facility. If the user selects not to provide access to the healthinformation of the corresponding patient, the request 1702 may beremoved from the display of the device 302. If the user selects toprovide access to the health information, the health information of thecorresponding patient may be transmitted to the device providing thetailored content.

Transmitting the health information of the corresponding patient in sucha way may include transmitting a copy of the health information of thecorresponding patient (e.g., in the form of one or more electronic fileshaving extension types .pdf, .doc, .jpeg, .png, .bmp, .xls, .csv, .txt,etc.) to the device providing the tailored content and/or transmitting acredential token (e.g., similar to the generated credential token 1604illustrated in FIG. 16) to the device providing the tailored content(e.g., to grant access to health information about the patient storedwithin a server associated with the software application 602). Thehealth information provided may be anonymized in one or more ways. Forexample, the health information may not contain corresponding patientidentification information (e.g., the patient name, the patient address,the patient social security number, the patient ID number, etc. may bestripped from the health information and/or redacted within the healthinformation). Further, access to the health information may be revokedonce the device 302 associated with the corresponding patient is nolonger within the predetermined proximity of the device providing thetailored content or after a predetermined length of time.

Based on the health information from one or more devices, the deviceproviding the tailored content may then provide targeted content (e.g.,advertisements or promotions) to one or more patients within thepredetermined proximity of the device providing the tailored content.For example, if 50% of the patients within a physician's office providehealth information that indicates they have diabetes, an advertisementfor diabetes medication may be sent to each device in the predeterminedproximity or sent to each device that provided health information (e.g.,via a push notification, a popup notification, a text message, an email,an in-app notification, a banner advertisement on a webpage, etc.).Additionally or alternatively, a video advertisement for a diabetesmedication may play on a television present in the physician's office oran audio advertisement for diabetes medication may play on a speaker(e.g., over the radio) within the physician's office. Other types oftargeted content are also possible. Further, other methods for providingtargeted content are also possible.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart illustrating a method 1800.

At block 1802, the method 1800 may include capturing information about amedication label associated with a medication.

At block 1804, the method 1800 may include analyzing, by a firstcomputing device, the information about the medication label to extractmedication information.

At block 1806, the method 1800 may include generating, by the firstcomputing device, a medication schedule for a corresponding patientassociated with the medication. The medication schedule may include adosage strength and dosage frequency.

At block 1808, the method 1800 may include prompting, by a secondcomputing device, the corresponding patient to take an amount of themedication corresponding to the dosage strength at a predetermined timeaccording to the medication schedule.

At block 1810, the method 1800 may include receiving, by the secondcomputing device, an indication that the corresponding patient has takenthe amount of the medication corresponding to the dosage strength.

In some embodiments of the method 1800, the medication information mayinclude a name of a corresponding pharmacy, an address of acorresponding pharmacy, a phone number of a corresponding pharmacy, aname of a corresponding pharmacist, a name of a prescribing physician, aname of the corresponding patient, initials of the correspondingpatient, a date of birth of the corresponding patient, a patientidentification (ID) number of the corresponding patient, an address ofthe corresponding patient, a date on which a corresponding prescriptionwas filled, a serial number of a corresponding prescription, directionsfor prescribed use of the medication, dosage information, a proprietaryname of a corresponding drug, a generic name of a corresponding drug, anexpiration date of the medication, a drug dose strength of themedication, or an initial quantity of pills in a correspondingcontainer.

In some embodiments of the method 1800, block 1802 may includecapturing, by a camera, an image of the medication label. Block 1802 mayalso include transmitting, by the camera, the image of the medicationlabel to the first computing device.

In some embodiments of the method 1800, block 1804 may includeperforming, by the first computing device, optical character recognition(OCR) on the image of the medication label. Block 1804 may also includeperforming, by the first computing device, image analysis on the imageof the medication label to read a barcode or a QUICK-RESPONSE (QR) codeof the medication label.

In some embodiments of the method 1800, the dosage strength or dosagefrequency may be based on the medication information.

In some embodiments, the method 1800 may include prompting, by thesecond computing device, the corresponding patient to complete a healthmanagement task. The method 1800 may also include receiving, by thesecond computing device, an indication that the corresponding patienthas completed the health management task. The health management task mayinclude performing an exercise, performing an at-home diagnostic test,or visiting a physician. In such embodiments, block 1810 may includereceiving, by the second computing device, results of the at-homediagnostic test. Block 1810 may also include storing, within the secondcomputing device or the first computing device, the results of theat-home diagnostic test.

In some embodiments, the method 1800 may include storing, within thefirst computing device, at least one of the medication schedule, thedosage strength, the dosage frequency, or the indication that thecorresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength. The method 1800 may also includepresenting, to a physician treating the corresponding patient, thestored medication schedule, stored dosage strength, stored dosagefrequency, or stored indication that the corresponding patient has takenthe amount of the medication corresponding to the dosage strength.

In some embodiments, the method 1800 may include storing, within thefirst computing device, at least one of a name of the medication, themedication schedule, the dosage strength, the dosage frequency, or theindication that the corresponding patient has taken the amount of themedication corresponding to the dosage strength. The method 1800 mayalso include transmitting, by the second computing device, a credentialtoken to a third computing device, wherein the credential token providesaccess privileges to an approved party for a predetermined length oftime to the stored name of the medication, stored medication schedule,stored dosage strength, stored dosage frequency, or stored indicationthat the corresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength. Further, the method 1800 mayinclude providing, by the third computing device to the first computingdevice, the credential token. In addition, the method 1800 may includeproviding, to the third computing device by the first computing device,access to the stored name of the medication, stored medication schedule,stored dosage strength, stored dosage frequency, or stored indicationthat the corresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength. Still further, the method 1800 mayinclude revoking, after the predetermined length of time, the accessprivileges to the stored name of the medication, stored medicationschedule, stored dosage strength, stored dosage frequency, or storedindication that the corresponding patient has taken the amount of themedication corresponding to the dosage strength.

In some embodiments, the method 1800 may include determining, by thefirst computing device based on the indication that the correspondingpatient has taken the amount of the medication corresponding to thedosage strength, whether an appropriate medication was taken by thecorresponding patient. The method 1800 may also include determining, bythe first computing device based on the indication that thecorresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength, whether an appropriate amount ofmedication was taken by the corresponding patient. Further, the method1800 may include determining, by the first computing device based on theindication that the corresponding patient has taken the amount of themedication corresponding to the dosage strength, whether the medicationwas taken within an appropriate time window based on the predeterminedtime. In such embodiments, the method 1800 may include providing, by thesecond computing device, an alert if: the appropriate medication was nottaken by the corresponding patient, the appropriate amount of themedication was not taken by the corresponding patient, or the medicationwas not taken within the appropriate time window based on thepredetermined time.

In some embodiments, the method 1800 may include revising, by the firstcomputing device, the medication schedule based on a change in health orsymptoms of the corresponding patient.

In some embodiments of the method 1800, block 1808 may includedisplaying, by the second computing device, an image of the medication;displaying, by the second computing device, an image of the dosagestrength; displaying, by the second computing device, an instructionalimage regarding how to take the medication; providing, by the secondcomputing device, audio instructions regarding how to take themedication; providing, by the second computing device, videoinstructions regarding how to take the medication; providing, by thesecond computing device, a text-message or email reminder regarding themedication; or providing, by the second computing device, a popupnotification regarding the medication. In such embodiments, the image ofthe medication is a stock photo of a drug obtained from an imagerepository of a government agency or pharmaceutical corporation.

In some embodiments of the method 1800, the indication that thecorresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength includes a captured image of amedication taken by the corresponding patient.

In some embodiments of the method 1800, block 1808 may includeactivating, by the second computing device, an alarm. In suchembodiments, the method 1800 may also include silencing, by the secondcomputing device upon receiving the indication that the correspondingpatient has taken the amount of the medication corresponding to thedosage strength, the alarm. Further, in such embodiments, block 1810 mayinclude receiving, by the second computing device, the indication thatthe corresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength may include interacting a pillcontainer with a pill-container detection device.

In some embodiments, the method 1800 may include receiving, by thesecond computing device, context about a time at which the medicationwas taken by the corresponding patient. The method 1800 may also includestoring, within the first computing device or the second computingdevice, the context about the time at which the medication was taken bythe corresponding patient.

In some embodiments of the method 1800, the dosage strength may includea drug dosage strength in mg or a drug dosage amount in number of pills.

In some embodiments of the method 1800, the dosage strength or dosagefrequency is based on health information about the corresponding patientstored within the first computing device, the second computing device,or some other computing device.

In some embodiments, the method 1800 may include determining an amountof the medication remaining in a medication container. The method 1800may also include storing, within the first computing device, the amountof medication remaining in the medication container. In suchembodiments, determining the amount of medication remaining in themedication container may include weighing all pills remaining in themedication container and dividing by a predetermined mass of each pill;pouring out pills remaining in the medication container, capturing animage of the pills, and performing image processing on the capturedimage to count a number of pills; or subtracting the amount ofmedication corresponding to the dosage strength from a previouslydetermined amount of remaining medication to establish the amount of themedication remaining in the medication container.

In some embodiments, the method 1800 may include broadcasting, by athird computing device within a waiting room of an emergency carefacility or a physician's office, a beacon requesting access to medicalinformation about the corresponding patient. The method 1800 may alsoinclude granting, by the second computing device for a predeterminedlength of time, access to the medical information about thecorresponding patient. Further, the method 1800 may includebroadcasting, by the third computing device within the waiting room ofthe emergency care facility or the physician's office, targeted contentthat is tailored based on the medical information about thecorresponding patient.

In some embodiments of the method 1800, block 1802 may includecapturing, by a camera, a first image of the medication label. Block1802 may also include transmitting, by the camera, the first image ofthe medication label to the first computing device. Further, block 1802may include determining, by the first computing device, that the firstimage is obscured or blurry. In addition, block 1802 may includeprompting, by the second computing device, the corresponding patient tocapture an additional image of the medication label. Still further,block 1802 may include capturing, by the camera, a second image of themedication label. Even further, block 1802 may include transmitting, bythe camera, the second image of the medication label to the firstcomputing device. In such embodiments, the method 1800 may also includedetermining, by the first device, that the second image is obscured orblurry. The method 1800 may further include prompting, by the secondcomputing device, the corresponding patient to manually enter theinformation about the medication label associated with the medication.

In some embodiments, the method 1800 may also include capturinginformation about an additional medication label associated with anadditional medication. Further, the method 1800 also includes analyzing,by the computing device, the information about the additional medicationlabel to extract additional medication information. In addition, themethod 1800 may include generating, by the first computing device, anadditional medication schedule for the corresponding patient. Theadditional medication schedule may include an additional dosage strengthand an additional dosage frequency corresponding to the additionalmedication. In such embodiments, block 1806 may include determining ifany potential adverse drug interactions exist between the medication andthe additional medication. Block 1806 may also include staggering, if apotential adverse drug interaction does exist, predetermined times totake the medication according to the medication schedule with respect topredetermined times to take the additional medication according to theadditional medication schedule.

In some embodiments of the method 1800, the first computing device maybe a cloud computing device or a server computing device.

In some embodiments of the method 1800, the second computing device is amobile computing device, a tablet computing device, a wearable computingdevice, a laptop computing device, a desktop computing device, acomputing device associated with a smart speaker, or a computing deviceembedded within a household appliance.

Other variations are within the spirit of the present invention. Thus,while the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof areshown in the drawings and have been described above in detail. It shouldbe understood, however, that there is no intention to limit theinvention to the specific form or forms disclosed, but on the contrary,the intention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions,and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention, asdefined in the appended claims.

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in thecontext of describing the invention (especially in the context of thefollowing claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and theplural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted bycontext. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing”are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, butnot limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. The term “connected” is to beconstrued as partly or wholly contained within, attached to, or joinedtogether, even if there is something intervening. Recitation of rangesof values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method ofreferring individually to each separate value falling within the range,unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value isincorporated into the specification as if it were individually recitedherein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitableorder unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearlycontradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or examplelanguage (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to betterilluminate embodiments of the invention and does not pose a limitationon the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language inthe specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimedelement as essential to the practice of the invention.

Preferred embodiments of this invention are described herein, includingthe best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention.Variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to thoseof ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. Theinventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations asappropriate, and the inventors intend for the invention to be practicedotherwise than as specifically described herein. Accordingly, thisinvention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subjectmatter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicablelaw. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in allpossible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unlessotherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.

All references, including publications, patent applications, andpatents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the sameextent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicatedto be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entiretyherein.

What is claimed:
 1. A method comprising: capturing information about amedication label associated with a medication; analyzing, by a firstcomputing device, the information about the medication label to extractmedication information; generating, by the first computing device, amedication schedule for a corresponding patient associated with themedication, wherein the medication schedule comprises a dosage strengthand dosage frequency; prompting, by a second computing device, thecorresponding patient to take an amount of the medication correspondingto the dosage strength at a predetermined time according to themedication schedule; and receiving, by the second computing device, anindication that the corresponding patient has taken the amount of themedication corresponding to the dosage strength.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the medication information comprises a name of acorresponding pharmacy, an address of a corresponding pharmacy, a phonenumber of a corresponding pharmacy, a name of a correspondingpharmacist, a name of a prescribing physician, a name of thecorresponding patient, initials of the corresponding patient, a date ofbirth of the corresponding patient, a patient identification (ID) numberof the corresponding patient, an address of the corresponding patient, adate on which a corresponding prescription was filled, a serial numberof a corresponding prescription, directions for prescribed use of themedication, dosage information, a proprietary name of a correspondingdrug, a generic name of a corresponding drug, an expiration date of themedication, a drug dose strength of the medication, or an initialquantity of pills in a corresponding container.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein capturing the information about the medication labelcomprises: capturing, by a camera, an image of the medication label; andtransmitting, by the camera, the image of the medication label to thefirst computing device.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein analyzing theinformation about the medication label to extract medication informationcomprises: performing, by the first computing device, optical characterrecognition (OCR) on the image of the medication label; or performing,by the first computing device, image analysis on the image of themedication label to read a barcode or a QUICK-RESPONSE (QR) code of themedication label.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the dosage strengthor dosage frequency is based on the medication information.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: prompting, by the secondcomputing device, the corresponding patient to complete a healthmanagement task; and receiving, by the second computing device, anindication that the corresponding patient has completed the healthmanagement task, wherein the health management task comprises performingan exercise, performing an at-home diagnostic test, or visiting aphysician.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving the indicationthat the corresponding patient has completed the health management taskcomprises: receiving, by the second computing device, results of theat-home diagnostic test; and storing, within the second computing deviceor the first computing device, the results of the at-home diagnostictest.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: storing, within thefirst computing device, at least one of the medication schedule, thedosage strength, the dosage frequency, or the indication that thecorresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength; and presenting, to a physiciantreating the corresponding patient, the stored medication schedule,stored dosage strength, stored dosage frequency, or stored indicationthat the corresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: storing, within the first computing device, at least one ofa name of the medication, the medication schedule, the dosage strength,the dosage frequency, or the indication that the corresponding patienthas taken the amount of the medication corresponding to the dosagestrength; transmitting, by the second computing device, a credentialtoken to a third computing device, wherein the credential token providesaccess privileges to an approved party for a predetermined length oftime to the stored name of the medication, stored medication schedule,stored dosage strength, stored dosage frequency, or stored indicationthat the corresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength; providing, by the third computingdevice to the first computing device, the credential token; providing,to the third computing device by the first computing device, access tothe stored name of the medication, stored medication schedule, storeddosage strength, stored dosage frequency, or stored indication that thecorresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength; and revoking, after thepredetermined length of time, the access privileges to the stored nameof the medication, stored medication schedule, stored dosage strength,stored dosage frequency, or stored indication that the correspondingpatient has taken the amount of the medication corresponding to thedosage strength.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining, by the first computing device based on the indication thatthe corresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength, whether an appropriate medicationwas taken by the corresponding patient; determining, by the firstcomputing device based on the indication that the corresponding patienthas taken the amount of the medication corresponding to the dosagestrength, whether an appropriate amount of medication was taken by thecorresponding patient; or determining, by the first computing devicebased on the indication that the corresponding patient has taken theamount of the medication corresponding to the dosage strength, whetherthe medication was taken within an appropriate time window based on thepredetermined time.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprisingproviding, by the second computing device, an alert if: the appropriatemedication was not taken by the corresponding patient; the appropriateamount of the medication was not taken by the corresponding patient; orthe medication was not taken within the appropriate time window based onthe predetermined time.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprisingrevising, by the first computing device, the medication schedule basedon a change in health or symptoms of the corresponding patient.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, wherein prompting, by the second computing device,comprises: displaying, by the second computing device, an image of themedication; displaying, by the second computing device, an image of thedosage strength; displaying, by the second computing device, aninstructional image regarding how to take the medication; providing, bythe second computing device, audio instructions regarding how to takethe medication; providing, by the second computing device, videoinstructions regarding how to take the medication; providing, by thesecond computing device, a text-message or email reminder regarding themedication; or providing, by the second computing device, a popupnotification regarding the medication.
 14. The method of claim 13,wherein the image of the medication is a stock photo of a drug obtainedfrom an image repository of a government agency or pharmaceuticalcorporation.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication that thecorresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength comprises a captured image of amedication taken by the corresponding patient.
 16. The method of claim1, wherein prompting, by the second computing device, the correspondingpatient to take the amount of the medication corresponding to the dosagestrength comprises activating, by the second computing device, an alarm,and wherein the method further comprises silencing, by the secondcomputing device upon receiving the indication that the correspondingpatient has taken the amount of the medication corresponding to thedosage strength, the alarm.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereinreceiving, by the second computing device, the indication that thecorresponding patient has taken the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength comprises interacting a pillcontainer with a pill-container detection device.
 18. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the second computing device,context about a time at which the medication was taken by thecorresponding patient; and storing, within the first computing device orthe second computing device, the context about the time at which themedication was taken by the corresponding patient.
 19. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the dosage strength comprises a drug dosage strength inmg or a drug dosage amount in number of pills.
 20. The method of claim1, wherein the dosage strength or dosage frequency is based on healthinformation about the corresponding patient stored within the firstcomputing device, the second computing device, or some other computingdevice.
 21. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining anamount of the medication remaining in a medication container; andstoring, within the first computing device, the amount of medicationremaining in the medication container.
 22. The method of claim 21,wherein determining the amount of the medication remaining in themedication container comprises: weighing all pills remaining in themedication container and dividing by a predetermined mass of each pill;pouring out pills remaining in the medication container, capturing animage of the pills, and performing image processing on the capturedimage to count a number of pills; or subtracting the amount ofmedication corresponding to the dosage strength from a previouslydetermined amount of remaining medication to establish the amount of themedication remaining in the medication container.
 23. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: broadcasting, by a third computing devicewithin a waiting room of an emergency care facility or a physician'soffice, a beacon requesting access to medical information about thecorresponding patient; granting, by the second computing device for apredetermined length of time, access to the medical information aboutthe corresponding patient; and broadcasting, by the third computingdevice within the waiting room of the emergency care facility or thephysician's office, targeted content that is tailored based on themedical information about the corresponding patient.
 24. The method ofclaim 1, wherein capturing information about the medication labelassociated with the medication comprises: capturing, by a camera, afirst image of the medication label; transmitting, by the camera, thefirst image of the medication label to the first computing device;determining, by the first computing device, that the first image isobscured or blurry; prompting, by the second computing device, thecorresponding patient to capture an additional image of the medicationlabel; capturing, by the camera, a second image of the medication label;and transmitting, by the camera, the second image of the medicationlabel to the first computing device.
 25. The method of claim 24, furthercomprising: determining, by the first computing device, that the secondimage is obscured or blurry; and prompting, by the second computingdevice, the corresponding patient to manually enter the informationabout the medication label associated with the medication.
 26. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: capturing information about anadditional medication label associated with an additional medication;analyzing, by the first computing device, the information about theadditional medication label to extract additional medicationinformation; and generating, by the first computing device, anadditional medication schedule for the corresponding patient, whereinthe additional medication schedule comprises an additional dosagestrength and an additional dosage frequency corresponding to theadditional medication.
 27. The method of claim 26, wherein generatingthe additional medication schedule comprises: determining if anypotential adverse drug interactions exist between the medication and theadditional medication; and staggering, if a potential adverse druginteraction does exist, predetermined times to take the medicationaccording to the medication schedule with respect to predetermined timesto take the additional medication according to the additional medicationschedule.
 28. The method of claim 1, wherein the first computing deviceis a server computing device.
 29. The method of claim 1, wherein thesecond computing device is a mobile computing device, a tablet computingdevice, a wearable computing device, a laptop computing device, adesktop computing device, a computing device associated with a smartspeaker, or a computing device embedded within a household appliance.30. A mobile computing device configured to: capture information about amedication label associated with a medication; analyze the informationabout the medication label to extract medication information; generate amedication schedule for a corresponding patient associated with themedication, wherein the medication schedule comprises a dosage strengthand dosage frequency; prompt the corresponding patient to take an amountof the medication corresponding to the dosage strength at apredetermined time according to the medication schedule; and receive anindication that the corresponding patient has taken the amount of themedication corresponding to the dosage strength.
 31. A non-transitory,computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, whenexecuted by a processor, perform a method comprising: receivinginformation, from a computing device, about a medication labelassociated with a medication; analyzing the information about themedication label to extract medication information; generating amedication schedule for a corresponding patient associated with themedication, wherein the medication schedule comprises a dosage strengthand dosage frequency; transmitting, to the computing device, themedication schedule for the corresponding patient; and receiving, fromthe computing device, an indication that the corresponding patient hastaken an amount of the medication corresponding to the dosage strength,wherein the indication that the corresponding patient has taken theamount of the medication corresponding to the dosage strength wasreceived by the computing device in response to the computing deviceprompting the corresponding patient to take the amount of the medicationcorresponding to the dosage strength at a predetermined time accordingto the medication schedule.